


We

by AKnightOfAGoodKing



Series: Venomous [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Venom (Comics), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Crying, Domestic Fluff, Insecurity, Kidnapping, Love, Minor Character Death, Original Character(s), Possessive Behavior, Protectiveness, Romance, Separation Anxiety, Suicidal Thoughts, Team as Family, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-08-04 18:57:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16352327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AKnightOfAGoodKing/pseuds/AKnightOfAGoodKing
Summary: Excerpt:[But when they got up a quarter of the way, far enough that no one could see them much anymore, Venom rose up from Eddie's chest—hands still clasped together—to take a good look at Eddie through his own eyes, though he didn't need to."Eddie,"the symbiote said with his formed mouth, voice traveling through the car,"we're in love."He had a note in his tone and a wide smile on his face . . .. . . In the last moment, he saw Venom reach out, a small tendril so close to touching him, but it was too late. He was already in the air, the night air like daggers against his skin, and he passed out again, afraid of falling again.]An in-verse companion piece toPretend You Don't Know Me! [RE-UPLOAD].[DO NOT REPOST/REUSE MY WORK(S) WITHOUT MY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND PERMISSION]





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a mistake; this plot is too big to be a one-shot. I have, like, five other fics to work on, and here I am starting another one! >__<
> 
> But seriously, having seen the movie and read some of the comics, I really like Eddie and Venom. They're right up there with Superman and Batman for me. The concept of soulmates sure is a lovely one. I absolutely adore their relationship, and I would love to explore their potential together. Tell me what you think! ^^

_**Eddie.** _

The reporter huffed, already knowing that he was being distracted from his current project because the alien wanted attention. "What is it, babe?" he asked. 

 _ **We're bored,**_ Venom replied, rippling over his human's chest like a warm feeling.  _ **We want to watch Netflix.**_

"Not now, the deadline is in two days. You know you can just turn on the TV, right?"

_**Yes, but we want to watch together.** _

Eddie let out a snort, pausing to place a hand over his chest. As antagonizing as he was at the beginning, Venom was _a fucking sap_ , as the man learned over the course of the last year, but it was only recently that Eddie started taking their relationship a lot more serious than simple symbiosis. It took some time to accept it fully, but they were made for each other. 

"Just a little longer," Eddie said. "I'll make it up to us. Drown us in all the chocolates and tater tots."

Venom hummed, pleased, and stretched out of Eddie's shoulder to form his face, white eyes narrowed with a thin, sharp smile. He hissed softly as he limply placed his head on top of Eddie's, settling contently.  ** _Yes_** , he hissed softly,  **and** _ **we want to go to the fair. We want to try cotton candy and ride the Ferris wheel.**_

Eddie grimaced at the thought of riding a giant wheel of death. "I don't like heights."

**_Pussy._ **

"Asshole."

Venom chuckled, closing his eyes even though there was no biological imperative for the symbiote to do so. Since arriving to Earth, the alien had taken to some human behavior, acting like a cat sometimes—a needy, clingy, talking cat—but he could be cute nonetheless, in his parasite ways. 

**_Not a parasite!_ **

Eddie just smirked, going back to his article, but not before lifting his hand from his chest to the top of his head to rub his fingers against his darling's formed face affectionately, to which Venom pressed lightly against in return. 

Today was a nice day. 

* * *

Two days later, as Eddie said, they bought out all the tater tots and chocolates from Missus Chen's store, and the next weekend later, he took them to the fair by the pier because those who wait shall receive.

 _ **That's a good smell,**_ Venom remarked for the seventh time, forcing Eddie to walk to yet another vendor. This one was selling hot dogs and chili fries. 

Eddie sighed halfheartedly, grateful that he had the habit of saving at least fifteen percent of his paychecks every time because his card was going to drop a couple hundred at this rate. They weren't here for the amusement as much as they were there to eat, like a lot of places they went, not that Eddie minded. When Venom was happy, he shared the feeling, a sated warmth spreading to his stomach and giving him a sense of fullness, a fullness that never seemed to be too much but always enough. 

"Glutton," he said as he reached the vendor, ignoring the woman looking over to him. He ordered two hot dogs with everything on them and a basket of chili fries with everything on it, adding a large cup of soda to wash it down for his own sake.

They kept walking as they ate, taking a look at people playing the games. Most of them failed, of course, because fair games weren't really fair, made to make the house have the advantage in mind. Eddie should know as he did a report on them a few years ago when he first started anew in San Fran. 

 ** _Delicious_** ** _,_** Venom commented when Eddie threw away the trash. It was obvious that he wanted more, but something drew the symbiote's mind away from eating when they passed some of the rides.  _ **Eddie, we want to ride the Ferris wheel.**_

"And I don't like heights," Eddie argued with a little frown. "We can ride the bumper cars or the merry-go-round or something."

_**But the Ferris wheel is romantic! We want to ride it!** _

Eddie flushed a little. "You're embarrassing, you know." 

 _**Don't care. Eddie, Ferris wheel.**_   **Now.**

Eddie let out a groan, but really, he couldn't say no. Venom probably learned about this shit while he was asleep, taking the liberty watching whatever was on TV in the middle of the night. Besides, having Venom with him meant he was going to be okay. He won't fall and die, right? 

 _ **No dying,**_ he was interrupted.  _ **We will catch us, always. We will be safe.**_

Letting out a sigh, Eddie walked them to the giant wheel at the end of the pier, large and  _very_ tall. His hands trembled slightly as he waited, a single man in a line filled with couples and families, but they calmed when Venom slipped out from under his jacket sleeves to form his own hands, clasping Eddie reassuringly in the pocket of his jacket. Their heartbeat slowed with the sun setting over the watery horizon, coloring the sky yellow and orange like autumn, Eddie's favorite season.

It was very beautiful. 

When they reached the front of the line, the attendants looked at Eddie weirdly because he was just by himself, but he didn't care, handing one of them fifteen bucks—overpriced as usual—with Venom temporarily hidden around his wrist, and got a car all to themselves. 

Venom remained quiet, though he was happy Eddie could feel, as the wheel turned slowly, lifting them further and further up from the ground. Though assuring as it was to have his hands held, still, Eddie started on some of the breathing exercises he learned over the years, trying not to look out the windows because if he did, he could see how far up he was. The thought of that was frightening enough. 

But when they got up a quarter of the way, far enough that no one could see them much anymore, Venom rose up from Eddie's chest—hands still clasped together—to take a good look at Eddie through his own eyes, though he didn't need to. 

 _ **"Eddie,"**_ the symbiote said with his formed mouth, voice traveling through the car,  _ **"we're in love."**_ He had a note in his tone, a wide smile on his face. 

Taken by surprised, Eddie barked out a laugh, forgetting his fear of heights at this moment. It was a fluttering laugh, shaken by embarrassment and equal endearment. 

You know, Eddie truly did love Anne, smart, beautiful, compassionate Anne. She was, with no doubt, one of the greatest loves of his life. They were going to get married at one point, they were going to move into a bigger apartment and start a family—one boy, one girl—and be happy. So yeah, he regretted the choice he made that had lost them both their jobs, their relationship, their future, their everything,  _them_. Eddie threw everything that was good away to take a jab at Carlton Drake, and it was Carlton Drake who helped him get back on his feet. Ironic, huh? 

Eddie couldn't say that he was glad that Anne gave him back the ring, but he couldn't deny that this—him and Venom, them,  _ **us**_ —was the best thing that could have possibly happen to him after all he had done, after losing his job, his reputation, his fiancée, his self-worth.

Next to heights, Eddie had always been afraid about being alone, being unloved. Growing up with a mother who died giving birth to you and a negligent father who couldn't love anyone else after was a lot harder to move on from than Eddie wanted, but that was okay. He had Venom now, who was attached to him literally and figuratively, deciding to save the world because of  _him_. There was probably no better confidence boost than that, even if he swerved a bit now and again on that train of thought. 

With Venom, he had everything back, Anne and Dan now his closet friends. This felt right, like they were meant to happen, _the perfect match_. Eddie didn't believe in the soulmate thing, but this would would be it. Eddie felt Venom agree with him wordlessly, expanding the warmth from his hands to cover his chest in a symbiote embrace.

The reporter finally responded by taking his hands out of his pockets, now gloved with Venom, and reaching out to hold his sweetheart's face to bring him closer, not saying a word.

For a journalist, he was doing a shit job, but luckily for him, he didn't need to say a thing. (He will eventually, but he needed to find the right ones.) Right now, it was okay just to  _feel_ , to  _touch_ , to lean in for a kiss, his lips pressed lightly against the other's sharp mouth, which nibbled at him delightfully with an echoing laugh. 

 _ **"Eddie,"**_ Venom spoke out loud, sinking through his lover's skin,  **my** ** _Eddie._**

Taking a deep breath, and feeling whole, Eddie took his first look out the window, and he exhaled at the view of the city from the car, forgetting for a moment of his fear because he wasn't alone, not anymore. The city lights dimmed in and out like a heartbeat, slow and alive, and they were—

_BAM!_

"Holy shit!" Eddie shouted, adrenaline shooting in his veins, and Venom immediately encased him as the car began to rock violently as something heavy landed on it, and loud screeching sound came from above as the top began to come off by a grip of a mechanical talon. 

Instinctively, Venom prepared them to launch right at their attacker, but once the top came off, tossed carelessly into the sea, it—a large robot made of brass with spread opened wings—opened its beak, screeching out its deathly cry of seven kilohertz. 

The sound, it was a like a splitting headache, forcing Venom to clutch at their ears, but it was useless, the sound frequency separating him from Eddie, taking turns screaming in agony as Venom peeled away like old paint with a chisel, inch by painful inch. 

_**Eddie!** _

"VENOM!" 

When the eagle close its beak, Eddie was lying on the floor of the car, feeling more empty than ever before, and Venom barely moving in his formless shape one inch too far away. Neither could move, but fuck if Eddie didn't try, screaming at himself to move a finger, to keep that thing away from his beloved, to do  _something._

"Ve—" he called out, but he was being lifted away, a cold, sharp grasp on his back, talons closing over his chest. He tried to reach out, but he was too far and getting farther as the eagle flapped its metal wings. 

In the last moment, he saw Venom reach out, a small tendril so close to touching him, but it was too late. He was already in the air, the night air like daggers against his skin, and he passed out again, afraid of falling again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A metal eagle attacking your ferris wheel ride certainly can ruin a date, huh? 
> 
> Please note that the rating wouldn't be going past M for this work. Hoped you enjoyed!
> 
> (This wasn't as long as I expected . . . huh. =_=)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuck, I thought I wrote this in present tense, but I didn't. This is what happens when you're writing different works with different tenses at the same time, omgs. Like I started with the correct tense, but _nope_ , lol.
> 
> Also, that ending of chapter one really got a lot of you guys; who knew cliffhangers could do that to people? x)

**_Eddie!_ **

Venom screamed desperately, but there was no who could hear him, not like _this_. He strained to move, to reach for his Eddie before the reporter slipped away from him, but it was too late, forcing him to watch as his Eddie was taken into the sky by a large bird,  **HAMMER INDUSTRIES** neatly embedded across its stomach. It hurt, being alone, without Eddie, and he was dying. He wants to go after Eddie, but he couldn't, he was useless, _helpless_.

 ** _Help,_** he needed help, and there was only place he knew he could find it. 

Struggling like a human child standing for the first time, Venom tumbled inside the car, forcing himself to  ** _get up!_** He threw himself hard against the window with enough force to shatter the plastic glass, and he' was falling, falling so fast and so far, thinking about nothing but getting back his Eddie. When he hit the pavement down below, it hurt because everything he did now hurt, a pang stabbing every bit of him like the little mermaid princess who traded her tail for legs. (Venom doesn't just watch TV; he reads too, books, closed captions, Eddie's articles.) 

The symbiote slipped away from the scared crowd on the ground, muttering and pointing at the ravaged car at the very top of the wheel, their eyes too high and too distracted to turn their attention to him. Venom left the fair like a mindless sludge, instinctively seeking out a new host because he needed to survive, because he had never been so lonely. He had never felt so much like a loser because he lost the one so precious to him. 

 ** _Eddie, come back,_** Venom plead silently, dragging himself, feeling  _so_ hungry. There was a deafening ringing in his mind, rambling every thought he could possibly have because he wasn't  _anchored_. 

A saving grace came in the form of a stray black cat, thin but lean, jumping down into the alley Venom found himself in. Without hesitant, his mind cleared up for a moment, and he attacked the cat like a bullet, sinking into the body of a weak, temporary host whose brain tasted like nothing, like water that could not quench his thirst, not even a bit with how easier it was for him to take over the body completely. Already, it was decaying. 

 ** _Help, must get help_** ** _,_** he said to himself, feeling just stable enough to remember that he was going the wrong way, and the symbiote started with a dash out of the alleyway, frightening a passerby and her daughter. 

Venom had to exert himself to get from the pier to the nicer neighborhoods of Sam Francisco, which was a good distance if you were a cat. It wasn't enough to distract him momentarily about the emptiness all around him, chanting Eddie's name over and over again to himself. 

He was relieved when he reached Anne's and Dan's apartment, the apartment that Eddie used to live in, a pre-him existence, and with the body of a naturally gifted climber host, Venom made his way to the roof of the first floor and began to pound on the window pane, demanding to be let in. 

Neither Anne nor Dan were in that room, but the delicious looking snack of a house cat was. Venom rose from the host's body, invoking his face terrifying to cowardly criminals and pets minding their own business. The cat screeched out in fear and ran out of the room, hopefully to wherever its owners were. 

And it wasn't long before someone did come up, checking to see what scared her snack of a cat. Anne raised an eye curiously when she saw Venom, not knowing it was him until the pupils of the host cat swirled out, leaving a pair of milky white eyes. The lawyer quickly opened the window, an intelligent human that caught onto things quickly. He would know. 

"Venom?" she said, concern in her eyes. "Where's Eddie?" 

Venom didn't reply but reached out a weak paw, looking at her expectedly, and wordlessly, she knew. The woman had a kinship with him, having bound together once already, and fortunately, she was willing to do so again, _**for** **Eddie** **.**_

She accepted the offered limb, and seamlessly, Venom left the cat host and seeped into her, feeling sated once again but still incomplete. In an instant, he let her see everything, and Anne gasped, horrified. The cat regained its consciousness and jumped off the roof. 

"Eddie," she said. 

 _ **Help me,**_ Venom whispered to her, needing some rest and food.  _ **Get him back to me. I am empty,**_ **hallowed** _ **. Nothing hurts, Anne, but everything else does.**_

"We will," Anne said, placing a hand over her chest where Venom had settled, having seen Eddie do it a hundred times and more. "Hammer Industries? What is his tech doing kidnapping people in Cali?"

**_New York. You and I must go. Eddie is there._ **

"Anne? Is everything okay?" someone coming upstairs called, peaking into the room. "Are you on the phone?"

On edge, Venom shot out of Anne's back and prostrated defensively with all his teeth in a snarl, hissing angrily at the intruder.  ** _"Get out!"_**

"Ah!" Dan shouted in surprise, falling backwards on his ass.

"Venom!" Anne called out against the symbiote's behavior. 

Feeling her disapproval—salty and hot—Venom receded, shrinking his formed head to the size of a fist, eyes narrowed like a reprimanded dog.  ** _"Sorry, Dan,"_** he said, knowing that if it was Eddie, they'd be laughing, but Anne was not Eddie. 

"It's okay," the doctor said, picking himself up with a laugh. "Caught me by surprise. Wait, Venom? Where’s Eddie?" Genuine concern crossed his face, coming close to take Anne by the hands.

"He was kidnapped," she told him, appreciating the gesture. "By a metal eagle made with Hammer technology. Venom thinks he was taken to New York. We have to go, he needs our help."

 ** _"I will make them suffer, the one who stole my Eddie from me,"_** Venom added.  ** _"I will grind their bones with my teeth and make them watch, make them bleed out from their guts and hang them with their own—"_**

"Woah, you can stop that now," Dan said, looking a little sick, while Anne had no choice but to see it. He took a breath. "We should start packing."

Both Anne and Venom blinked, looking the man like he said something crazy, but Dan was just like he always was, standing confidently with a nice smile on his face. 

"It's too dangerous—"

_**"You will die—"** _

The bounded pair stopped, interrupting each other with the same thought. Anne continued, "We're going to rescue Eddie from someone who knows what they're doing, Dan. We don't know what they're capable of, you'll get hurt if you come along. I can't let you do that, not for me."

 _ **"Yes,"**_ Venom hissed,  ** _"you're only human. Humans are weak and puny, break easily. Anne_** **and** _ **Eddie will be upset if anything happens to you."**_

Dan shook his head, not letting either his girlfriend or a symbiote dissuade him. "I don't care," he told them. "I want to save Eddie too, he's my friend. And I know he still means a lot to you, Annie. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't support you, especially against something that could kill you. I love you, I want to be there to make sure nothing happens to you. You can't retain Venom for long, I read on files Eddie exposed on Drake's human experiments. Unless it's a perfect match, organ failure is imminent and then death. Let me come with you, okay, so your body can have a break. We don't know how long will take to get Eddie back, but I don't want to lose either of you, any of you."

A sweet, tender taste was being expelled from Anne's brain, and Venom recognized it. It was  _love_. 

Dan was a good person, Eddie told Venom since the beginning, but it was just now that the doctor feel into the list of ' _ **'people to never, ever eat,**_ " a friends list the closest thing it could be considered. Anne and Missus Chen were on it, children and mothers too. Venom liked Dan a lot more now, than simply tolerate him because he made Anne happy which made Eddie happy.

"But we don't know if you'll survive it," Anne argued despite how she felt, still concerned overall. 

 _ **"I'll only take Dan's body to give you and I rest,"**_ Venom promised, assuring the lawyer with a tap of his chin on her hand.  ** _"He'll only be a container, I won't put him in danger, Anne. He can help."_**

Anne hesitated, not wanting to risk her boyfriend's life, but Dan was right and he had the right to help too. She nodded, letting out a breathy, "Okay."

Dan lightened up, pressing a kiss against Anne's cheek. "Okay," he repeated, "should we take a plane? It'll be faster."

"Yeah," Anne replied, "but let's make something to eat first. I'm starving."

Three hours later, their jet departed on a non-stop flight to New York City. 

* * *

When Eddie woke up, he felt a bruise around his torso, where that thing grabbed him. He tried to call out, but no one responded, because there was nobody there. 

"Venom," he said weakly, feeling all the full extent of his injuries for the first time in a year. With Venom's healing factor, Eddie only really felt pain when it was severe, and only for a moment. 

Where was he? It was dark, and cold, and he was stripped down to his boxers, strapped onto an uncomfortable metal chair by the wrists and ankles. He tried to pull on them but they were firm, cutting into him as punishment. He groaned, exhaustion getting to him as his eyes strained against the lone light coming from above him.

 _ **"Eddie Brock,"**_ a strange voice spoke from the darkness, circling him like prey.  ** _"The first human to bond with a symbiote."_**

"Who's there?" Eddie said, looking around to see, to catch a glimpse of, whoever was there, but he couldn't see anything. "What do you want from us?"

**_"Not us,_** **you** _**. You have proven your strength as the perfect host because you are not dead yet. I have yet to find a host strong enough to bind with, and they fall as easily as flies. You will be** _ **my _host, Eddie Brock. You will help me ravage this planet as Riot should've done if he had not failed so miserable. Death was more than he deserved."_**

The reporter scoffed. "No way," he bit out, "you can't make me become anything. I only have one symbiote, and his name is Venom, you get that!"

The voice chuckled, a figure stepping out of the darkness, and Eddie inwardly drew back, grimacing at the state of its host, a half-rotting man with no life in his eyes. A murky violet shape nested uneasily on his shoulders, the strange symbiote's formed face looking sickly from using such an inadequate host. 

 ** _"I am Torment,"_** it said,  ** _"and_ we _will become one."_**

* * *

When their plane touched down, Venom was caught by the giant tower, the tallest one in the city, a name put up in bold, white letters that you can read across town: STARK. 

It was a familiar name, belonging to a billionaire inventor who was always mentioned on the local news when he came to visit California for one reason or another. Looking into Anne's knowledge, the symbiote caught onto another familiar name: The Avengers. 

 ** _They can help you and me,_** Venom spoke to Anne as they walked out of the terminal. She and Dan were waiting for a cab to take them to the city, where they would start looking, but how? 

Both Eddie and Anne hold their memories about the city, but that was several years ago, things could've easily changed, different streets, different businesses, different people. New York was a world away from San Francisco. 

"The Avengers?" Anne said out loud, not used to having Venom within her. The cab driver looked at her through his rear-view mirror but continued driving. "That's too risky," she whispered loud enough that Dan can hear her too. "They work with S.H.I.E.L.D. They might try to take you  _and_ Eddie away if they find out."

_**They would have to get my Eddie first. They will help, and I will take care of them.** _

She frowned, still not liking the idea, and Dan placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's been a long flight," he whispered too, "let's get to the city first and then figure out what we'll do. Find a restaurant to eat at."

Both Anne and Venom couldn't argue with that, the human feeling the full assault of the symbiote's fast metabolism by now, and she nodded, settling the both of them down for now. Dan told the cab driver to take them to one of New York's best eatery. 

Half an hour later, the yellow cab stopped in front of a greasy smelling Chinese restaurant, and Venom relished in the scent, forcing Anne out of the car just  the car went into park. The driver yelled indignantly but was quickly calmed when Dan paid him the fare plus tip. (A surgeon's salary could easily pay for an impromptu trip to the East Coast.) 

"Venom, slow down!" Anne whispered frantically as her legs carried her without permission, Dan coming close behind. 

_**Food! Hungry! You and I must hurry!** _

Anne and Venom were two steps away from the entrance when someone shouted, "My purse!" Whipping her head towards the source, Venom locked onto a young man wearing a green beanie running down the street, a bag gripped tightly in his hand. He was coming towards them, and Venom was about to stop him because thieves were bad people and he was hungry. 

But in a blink of an eye, the man disappeared off the ground, pinned against a brick building with a giant spiderweb. Clinging to the wall beside the man was another man, a boy based on how small he was in a size comparison. He was dressed head-to-toe in red and blue, a black spider over his chest. 

"Stealing is not okay," the spider-boy said, holding the bag in his hand, "just stay there until the police come. It'll come off in two hours."

With that, the man growled angrily, which the spider-boy ignored, dropping himself down to give the bag back to its rightful owner. "Thank you, Spider-Man!" she cried, giving him kiss on the cheek. 

The spider-boy— _Spider-man_ apparently—laughed shyly, touching the back of his head. "No problem, ma'am," he replied, "have a nice day. I gotta go."

The woman waved as the spider-boy shot a web from his hand, and up he went, flinging himself between the buildings. The city went back to usual as if this was a common thing, which baffled Anne and Dan but not Venom, who took over on an impulse and enveloped Anne in his protective layer. He confirmed his mass to her frame, accentuating her favorite features. It, of course, frightened the native New Yorkers who had never seen or heard of a symbiote before. 

 _What are you doing!_ Anne shouted from within, trying to get back some sense of control, but Venom ignored her, reaching out a hand to grab Dan by the tendrils. 

"Woah!" the doctor shouted as Venom put him on his back and was being attached by the ankles, waist, wrists, back, and head. "What's going on!" he asked in surprise, just as the symbiote began to jump, making great distances after the spider-boy who was swinging from building to building. 

 _ **"The spider-boy,"**_ Venom finally answered over Dan screaming, catching up easily,  _ **"he's strong. He can help you and me find Eddie."**_

 _That's Spider-Man,_ Anne told him,  _he's an Avenger. It's not a good idea to keep chasing after him!_

Again, Venom ignored her, following closely to the spider-boy who had almost immediately noticed the symbiote, looking over his shoulder as he jumped a highway. Besides from Venom's instincts that the spider-boy was a lot stronger than he looked, he was also smart, probably knowing a thing or two about dealing with enemies he'd never encountered before, because he changed his direction to loop around, heading towards Stark Tower, no doubt a giant trophy to its owner's ego as it grew bigger and bigger the closer and closer they got to it, Venom and Anne seeing how tall it truly was up close. 

The spider-boy leaped onto the tower, sticking to the material all on his own, and began to go up, toward the large baloney area at the very top, and Venom followed, climbing with the use of his claws. ( _ **Oops.**_ )

"This is really high," Dan said, the exhilaration of jumping over rooftops replaced with the natural fear of slow ascension. "I'm going to die."

 _ **"Stop being a  pu— little bitch,"**_ Venom said, snickering.  _ **"You're not going to die."**_

 _He better not,_ Anne added, no longer fighting for control.

The symbiote snickered even more, finding the couple amusing, but he remained focused on following the spider-boy, his instinct telling him that he was already being watched.

When Venom reached the top, there was a welcoming party waiting for him that included one gun, one bow, two repulsors, and one shield. All of which were pointing at him. 

The spider-boy was standing behind the man with the repulsor on both hands, who had a blue circle glowing in the middle of his chest and wearing sunglasses like a douche as Eddie would say. 

"Who are you," said the man, "and what are you doing on my tower?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to finish this as quickly as possible. =___=


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to say this in the last chapter, but Dan is a great guy, guys. I like him and Anne together, and I think they're the kind of couple who settle into love like a jigsaw puzzle. Anne knows what she wants, and Dan's adaptable; they make for great supporting characters. As someone commented last chapter, they are "ride or die friends." ^^

Venom was hungry, he decided he wanted to eat sunglasses douche first, then blond muscular man, redhead ninja lady, and lastly puny archer guy. He didn't need them when he just needed the spider-boy.

 _Venom!_ Anne interrupted, her frustration getting to the symbiote now.  _Put me down. We are **not** going to eat the Avengers, much less  **fight** them. We need to talk, let me do it._

That sounded like a good idea because Anne was good at talking, so Venom released his form, slinking most of himself back into her skin but leaving a wandering head from her shoulder. He helped her remain on her feet when Dan, released too, fell forward on shaky legs. 

"Thanks, honey," the doctor said in relief. 

 _ **"You're welcome, Dan,"**_ Venom replied with a laughing smile. 

That kinda put the Avengers in a confused but still cautious state, weapons (and shield) still pointed at them. 

"Do I have to say it again?" sunglasses douche asked, frowning. "What are you doing on my tower? But most importantly, why were you following the kid?"

 ** _"So he_ is  _a child,"_** Venom commented with a snicker.  ** _"He's so small, but in that way that's spelled with an 'o'."_**

"Hey, I'm not  _that_ small," the spider-boy spoke up from behind. "Wait, you know about memes?" 

Puny archer guy hid his laugh over his shoulder. 

"Ignore him," Anne said, shaking her head. "I'm Anne Weying, and this is Dan Lewis." She pointed a finger at Venom's face. "And this is Venom. We came all the way from California because we need your help, our friend Eddie was kidnapped." 

"And you traveled across the entire country for our help?" muscular blond man asked, lowering his shield, but that didn't mean his guard was. "With an alien no less."

"Our friend was kidnapped by Hammer technology so we guessed he was taken back here. Hammer doesn't own much on the West Coast."

" _Justin_ _Hammer_?" sunglasses douche asked, rolling his eyes and drawing back his repulsors unimpressively. "I don't know these guys, but I'm already on board."

"Tony," redhead ninja lady said, narrowing her eyes. She still had her gun on them. "Why were you chasing Spider-Man? It's easy to find the Avengers, but he noticed you were coming after  _him_. That doesn't sit well with me, or any of us."

 _ **"Not coming**_ **after _him,"_** Venom argued, hissing at the woman.  ** _"I need him, his body. He's strong, possibly strong enough to survive the bonding. I need him to help me save Eddie."_**

"Woah, woah," puny archer guy said, immediately on the fence, "no way, man. No touching the kid, we don't even know what you are. You could be lying to us about saving your friend."

 _ **"NOT LYING!"**_ Venom shot out, shoving his face largely  in rage before puny archer guy.  _ **"I WANT EDDIE BACK! HE'S MINE! NEED HIM BACK! YOU DON'T KNOW MUCH IT HURTS WITHOUT HIM! PUNY ARCHER, I'LL EAT YOUR FACE OFF!"**_

"Venom!" Dan shouted as Anne gasped in horror, the former attempting to pull the symbiote's fluid form back. How human. 

Venom didn't care that all the weapons (and the shield) were being pointed back at him, sunglasses douche pressing the spider-boy back a few steps. 

"We don't take threats lightly," ninja lady warned.

"No, wait!" Anne said, moving to stand in front of Venom's form and covering him from the Avengers with her arms. "We're _not_ lying, I swear. Our friend really was kidnapped. Venom needs a host to survive. I don't know why he thinks Spider-Man would be a good choice, but we don't want to pick a fight with any of you. We just want to rescue our friend."

Then a sense of dizziness overcame Anne, which made Venom feel fuzzy too, and her eyes rolled to the back of her eyes unnaturally. Her body was running out of energy to keep away the consequences of an imperfect bond with him, and she fell onto her knees. She was strong, but not strong enough. They should've eaten that thief from earlier.

"Anne," Dan breathed out, rushing over to her so she wouldn't fall onto the ground. "Anne, wake up," he said, trying to get a reaction from her by tapping her face gently. She had lost consciousness. 

 ** _"Too long,"_** Venom said tiredly, glad that there was contact between the two because it made transferring over easier.  _ **"Need stronger host."**_

His form slinked from Anne to Dan, and the symbiote sunk in the doctor's lungs, putting himself in a resting sleep so that he didn't harm the man as quickly. It'll put them both to sleep to conserve energy until Anne recovered enough. If not, he'd have to take a better host by force. 

Both Venom and Dan slipped away, following Anne into unconsciousness. 

* * *

When he sensed alertness from the back of his mind, Venom awoke enough to see through Dan's eyes. 

"What happened?" Dan asked, rubbing his eyes, sunglasses douche—no longer wearing sunglasses but probably still a douche—standing by with crossed arms. "Where's Annie?" 

Sunglasses douche pointed a thumb behind him, and Dan turned, instant relief when he saw Anne on another medical bed, a heart monitor singing that she was still alive and okay. 

"Where are we?" Dan asked, looking out the window to see a view of the city. 

"You're still in the Tower," sunglasses douche said. "We're deciding what to do with you two and that alien thing."

"Wait, you're not going to help us find Eddie?" Dan interjected, feeling panicked.

Sunglasses douche gave Dan a sympathetic look. "A lot of people come to the Avengers for help. We have to be careful with what we do. We're still checking out your story."

Dan frowned, feeling defeated. "Venom's going to be pissed," he said. 

"The alien thing, right?" sunglasses douche asked. "What is he?" 

"Eddie said something about being a symbiote," Dan answered slowly. "He's from outer space."

"I can guess. Look, you seem like nice people, but it might be dangerous to for you to handle. S.H.I.E.L.D. wants to take a look at it."

"What? I can't let you do that."

Sunglasses douche let a snort, taking a seat on the bed. "That's what I told S.H.I.E.L.D. too. Whatever comes to  _my_ tower is  _my_ business to deal with. Weird alien thing looking to save a human being, it seems like serious business. If we decide to help, then we're doing it  _our_ way, the Avengers' way, you understand?" 

Dan was caught by surprise because all of this was starting on a bad  note—the Avengers on guard against them and a government agency wanting to take Venom. He didn't expect sunglasses douche to almost say yes. 

"You're going to help," Dan stated, knowing in some way. Intuition was probably the word. 

"I'll do my best to convince them," sunglasses douche said. "I have a lifetime rivalry with Hammer, and I don't like things stirring up in my city. There's one condition though, and that is the kid stays out of this bonding thing. I don't know what it is exactly, but I'm not risking him to save your friend. His aunt trusts me to keep him safe, and he's all she has left. You get me?"

Dan didn't know that Venom was somewhat conscious, not feeling a bit out of place like he did when the symbiote disappeared into him. He didn't know how he'd convince Venom to pick someone else, but he was sure Venom would understand. They needed the Avengers to help them, they didn't know what they'd be facing. 

"Okay," the doctor said, nodding. 

Sunglasses douche smiled, getting up. "Great, I tell the others, and we'll start making plans in no time," he said, heading out the door. "I'll be back, Doctor Lewis."

The glass doors slide shut after him, clicking a lock mechanism. Though these heroes were willing to help them, but it didn't automatically they were all that trusting. 

Dan wasn't sure what to do at the moment, feeling well rested, so he got out of the bed and grabbed a chair. He placed himself right next to Anne's bed and held her by the hand. He had seen many people do this at the hospital, but rarely it was him. He couldn't wait for Anne to wake up, she had the most prettiest smile when she did, tasting like sunflowers and strawberries at the memory of yesterday morning. 

The moment was interrupted by something pushing the one of the vents open, clambering out by the wall in red and blue. It was the spider-boy, but up close, Dan saw what Venom meant earlier when he said the superhero was small. 

"Uh, hi!" the spider-boy said like a friendly neighbor, waving a little. ''I'm Spider-Man. Sorry I'm still in the costume, but my secret identity isn't public knowledge like Mister Stark's or Cap's. They'd kill me if I did something that careless."

"Hi," Dan replied, smiling a little. "I'm Doctor Dan Lewis, but you can call me Dan."

The spider-boy perked up with a nod. "Nice to meet you you, Doctor Dan," he said. Then he looked over to Anne. "Is she going to be alright?" 

Dan looked over the medical clipboard at the end of her bed, and he nodded, though feeling a little guilty. He didn't check in with her consistently enough and should've bought her something to eat before they left the airport. "She's recovering," he told the boy. "None of her organs started shutting down, but that was too close."

"Is that normal? What is that thing anyways, the black goo that came out of her shoulder? She called him Venom."

The doctor nodded. "Yeah, he's a symbiote which is like a"—Dan lowered his voice for this part in fear of Venom hearing him—" _parasite_. He's sensitive about that, but that's what Eddie calls him sometimes. But from what I inferred from observing them when we hang out, having Venom benefits Eddie as much as having Eddie benefits Venom. It seems more or less equal give and take."

"That's cool," the spider-boy said, sounding interested. "Uhm, but what happened with Miss Anne then?"

"Well, it seems that a mutual relationship is not often likely," Dan continued, showing that he knew a lot more than Venom thought. "Eddie's the only known subject to respond positively to Venom, the other is dead. Most people died quickly while some, like Anne, could only host him for a short period of time before their systems begin to collapse." 

"And what about you? I saw him go into your body. Are you feeling okay?"

Dan wasn't sure how to answer that. He had never experience a full bond with Venom before, but he was feeling as he usually did, Venom only being at the back of his mind. "Oddly enough, I don't even feel hungry."

The spider-boy tilted his head a bit in curiosity. "So he didn't bond with you," he noted, "but he said I would be a better host? That's what he said, right?" 

"Yes, he said you might be strong enough to survive actually, which must put you in the small percentile that Eddie's in."

The spider-boy took a minute to think something out, and then he said, "Okay, I'll do it."

Dan was horrified, like sour grapes. He shook his head, recalling sunglasses douche's one condition. "I can't," he said immediately. 

"But Venom said he needed me to help rescue your friend," the spider-boy argued. "I heard what Mister Stark said to you, but I want to help. Venom said everything hurts, and he doesn't seem like a bad— he doesn't seem bad, even though he threatened to eat Clint's face off. He said everything hurts, I want to help. I know that the others don't trust me enough to do it, but I can."

"I don't think it's because they don't trust you, Spider-Man," Dan said softly. "They just want to protect you. I don't know about you, but Stark came down on me like any good parent would. He cares about you, he doesn't want to risk losing you."

The spider-boy shrugged, not disbelieving that but not entirely confident in himself still. "But what if it doesn't work on anyone else?” he asked. "I know Mister Stark might volunteer. He might die, Doctor Dan. I can't let him do that. Or anyone else. Not when I can."

Dan smiled in understanding, warmed by the boy's kindness, and he placed a hand on the spider-boy's arm tenderly. "You're a good person, Spider-Man," he said, "and sometimes, that's enough. I can't let you do this, I'm sorry."

And the young superhero slumped, placing a hand over Dan's without a hint of bitterness but of quiet acceptance. 

The boy was young, but Dan was right; he was a good person, caring, compassionate, and not entirely sure of himself. It reminded Venom of someone he loved so much, but different because the spider-boy wasn't Eddie. Eddie was Eddie, and the spider-boy was spider-boy. Venom believed Eddie would like the boy when they meet. He would make a good host, second to Eddie. Venom decided it was time to give the spider-boy a chance. 

Without warning, the symbiote came out of his hiding spot inside Dan and rose from the man's skin, running up from his arm to where he was touching the spider-boy. With only a few seconds to spare before he felt the jarring pang of being hostless, Venom slinked to the boy's chest and tapped three times like he was asking to come in. 

Dan's eyes widened, reaching out to grab the symbiote before it was too late. "Venom, sto—"

But like Venom figured, the spider-boy was smart and immediately knew, nodding in agreement, and Venom was sinking, enveloping,  _becoming whole again_. This was a good host,  _a perfect host_ , and he confirmed to the spider-boy's frame complete and became a second skin, coloring red and blue with his black and white but every detail remaining. Sharing this body was euphoric, like a never-ending dose of dopamine. It tasted so delicious, he'd never want anything else,  _anyone else_.

Then everything about Venom tasted  _vile_ , his cells turned into ash and soot like death—not warm and flowing with blood but run over by a car and left to rot on the side of the road. A burning feeling started at the pit of his core, which felt like it was everywhere, trying to singe him because he was committing a sin, the sin of being made also to fit perfectly with someone else that wasn't **_Eddie_**. 

When the bond was complete, streams of tears ran down from the mask, and they were standing in front of a shocked and worried Dan. 

"Spider-Man? Venom?" he asked, getting up to take a closer look. "Are you okay? Are you in pain?"

 **"We miss Eddie,"** they answered, and they began to wail like a child. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How did part of this end up being a heart-to-heart between Dan and Peter, I don't know. It just naturally went that direction and ended as I hoped, shway. 
> 
> Also, I've decided to make this a companion piece to my other work, [Pretend You Don't Know Me! [RE-UPLOAD]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15831735), because I can put them in the same universe without either story conflicting. So whatever happens in that work can apply to this work, such as ships and relationship dynamics, but not explicit here. Check it out if you like this Peter Parker. ^^


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is kinda short for some reason, but hopefully, I packed in a lot to make up for it. Again, though, I feel like my pacing is too fast. XP

Eddie could tell when Torment reached the point of utter frustration because she yanked away from his body a few hours in, vainly attempting to bind with him. She retreated back to her half-dead host, and Eddie laughed though his lungs felt like they were filled with salt water. She felt like salt water and tasted like gasoline. 

"Give up already," the reporter said, letting his head roll backwards onto the chair in exhaustion. He didn't know how he did it, but he resisted her, saw some things, bits and pieces of the several hosts she had taken in order to survive in this world all alone. "You and me, we are never going to be a thing."

 ** _"Shut up!"_** Torment demanded, sounding just as tired as he was and a little something else. She let her host slump back into the shadows.  ** _"I will take your body whether it is the last thing I do! You may be human, but you are powerful, strong enough to resist me. I was breed to be a better, stronger, you should be honored to host me. The one called Venom is from the bottom of our kind, a_ loser** _ **."**_

Eddie weakly shrugged. "Hey, in this world, even losers can do something worthwhile," he said, closing his eyes because there was this moment of peace. 

**_"He couldn't even ravage your pathetic planet, he failed to return and report you to my kind."_ **

"Yeah, but he did stopped an invasion instead. _We did_."

_**"He is a traitor to my people. He will be devoured whole. Become my host and you will be spared from death."** _

"I've died once, you know. Riot shoved a giant piece of himself through my chest, and he left me laying on the floor like a piece of trash. I'd rather go through that again than be your host."

A purple strand as thick as a limb shot out of the dark and struck at his neck, the symbiote squeezing at his neck in a tight grip but no more.  ** _"You dare deny me!"_** she shouted.  ** _"How dare you! I will kill Venom and show you how weak he truly is. He does_ not  _deserve you,_ you _can do better._ I  _am better."_**

Eddie couldn't help but laugh, even as his vision started to black out. "The difference between you and Venom," he strained to say, "is that to him, I'm not just a host or a body. I'm not a means to an end, I mean everything to him. I'm his end game. Always. I matter, even if I'm a loser.  _I love him_." 

He sucked in a lungful of air when Torment pulled away in disgust.  ** _"Love,"_** she said,  ** _"makes you weak. I've seen it. Its only value is in the taste it produces, but I can live without it. My kind can live without it."_**

She paused for a moment, and then she continued,  ** _"Venom is no longer one of us. He will die, Eddie Brock, and you will be there to bear witness."_**

With exhaustion taking a hold over him and the sudden rush of oxygen, Eddie couldn't keep his eyes open any longer, and all he saw was the light above him. 

* * *

To say that (Mister) Stark was mad was an understatement; he was fucking  _pissed_. 

"Spider-Man, what the hell!" sunglass— Stark shouted when he came back in and saw the spider-boy's costume. He glared at Dan with so much hatred in that moment, which caused the good doctor to flinch. "You said you'd keep him out."

"Mister Stark, wait,” Peter said, jumping in before, "I wanted to. It was the only way we can help save their friend!"

"It shouldn't have been  _you_. Goddamn it, what am I going to tell your aunt if you get hurt under my own roof? This isn't a game, Spider-Man."

They recoiled inwardly because that was Peter was afraid of, not being taken seriously. Venom rose up from the boy's shoulder, scowling defensively at Stark.  _ **"Not a game, Stark,"**_ he hissed.  _ **"We are strong, we will do it right!"**_

" _You had no_ _right_ _!_ " Stark shouted back, not a bit hesitant to yell back at an alien. He would, he'd fought an army of them before. "He's _my_ responsibility, and if you think I'll let you off because he survived whatever this bonding thing is, you don't know half of what I can do. We were going to plan, not half ass our way through."

"Hey, lay off, Stark," Dan protested, "he just wanted help, okay? You can blame Venom"— ** _"Hey!"_** —"but what's done is done. Let me take a look at him to prove to you that Venom is right, that he isn't eating away Spider-Man."

Stark glared back at the doctor so he wasn't looking at Peter. " _Fine_ ," he said, sounding cynical. "You have everything you need here. FRIDAY, give him access."

 _"Yes, Mister Stark,"_ came the disembodied voice of Stark's current AI. 

"I'm going to try and fix this mess," the inventor continued, turning around. "Don'tdo anything stupid."

Peter wanted to stop him from leaving, but his feet stuck to where he stood. "Mister Sta—" 

" _Don't._  Not now, Pe— Spider-Man."

Venom pulled himself around Peter gently, feeling the boy's dejection. He'd seen what it was like to be rejected by the closet thing to a father figure. 

 ** _Douche,_** the symbiote said. ** _Peter has done nothing wrong, nothing that Eddie wouldn't get._**

He got a weak smile at that, but it wasn't enough. 

"Everything is going to be okay, Spider-Man," Dan assured, placing a hand on Peter's shoulder. He offered a better smile, a hopeful one. "Let's start on the tests, okay?" 

The doctor led them towards the medical equipment, starting to explain the procedures step-by-step. It was a good attempt at distracting the boy. 

* * *

By sunset, Peter was feeling more than starving. He knew something was wrong when he saw a bird fly by and thought, _That looks delicious._

"Uhm, Doctor Dan," he said out loud as they waited for the test results, "am I supposed to feel like I want to eat a bird? And brains? **"**

Dan raised an eyebrow, and then he realized what Peter was asking. "Oh!" he said, looking a little guilty. "I forgot that bonding with a symbiote requires a lot of energy. We should get you something to eat."

"Yeah, we can have food delivered to the Tower. FRIDAY, can you order the usual, but, like, five times as much?"

 _"Of course, Peter,"_ said the AI. 

"Thanks, FRIDAY. Put it on my tab, okay? Uh, fifty percent tips too. Five times is a lot."

_"It will be billed to Agent Barton as per his request."_

"Clint? But I can pay for it. I've been working a bit at the bodega."

_"Agent Barton found out about you opening a tab and requested that all your food bills are sent him. You will never have a reason to go hungry, Peter."_

Peter felt a gush of affection for Clint, and a hint of guilt. He'd never had so much before, Aunt May giving him everything he'd want to the limit that she could working her full-time job before he was bit by that radioactive spider, before Mister Stark and everyone else took him under their wings. He'd never asked for much because he didn't need much, not when Aunt May loved him with all her heart, raising him like her own son. (He was her son.) He was used to being taken cared of, but he wasn't used to being taken cared by so many people.

So he couldn't help but feel a little bad whenever they do because what did he have to give them back? With Aunt May, it was going to be doing his best at school, to go to a really good technology and science school, graduate top of his class, and take care of her for the rest of her life and give her everything she could possibly ask for. But what what about Clint? Or Mister Stark? They were  _superheroes_ , the best in their field. You can't really compete with Cap or Bucky, or Miss Nat. And Thor? He was a god! 

What could puny Peter Parker ever do to repay them back? He wasn't even sure if he could pay Aunt May back for loving him so much. Was his love almost as much as hers? Could it ever be?

 ** _Don't be sad, Peter,_** Venom said, snaking under his skin in a pacing matter.  _ **We taste bad when we're sad, like sour milk. We will prove to Stark and everyone else that we are good, we will save Eddie.**_

Peter didn't give much of a reply until the delivery was made, all five times the quantity still warm and fresh. Venom dived at them immediately, forming his head to start ravaging. They were starving. 

 _ **"Eat,"**_ the symbiote said, pausing for a moment,  _ **"must be full of energy to fight."**_

"Yeah, that sounds good," Peter said, sitting down and grabbing a bag. 

Venom hummed, pleased, and then he turned to Dan.  _ **"You too, Dan,"**_ he commanded.  ** _"You need to recover from earlier. You just woke up."_**

The doctor nodded, and they ate quietly together. Somehow, that did a lot better at making Peter feel a little better about everything, about Mister Stark, than learning medical processes. The teen might not have known Dan and Venom for very long, but it felt right, sharing a meal with them. 

When Venom stole a bite from Dan's meal, Dan yelped in surprise because the symbiote almost bit at his fingers (accidental of course). 

 _ **"Sorry, Dan,"**_ Venom teased with a wide grin and a playful tone,  ** _"you looked good enough to eat."_**

Peter laughed because Venom was laughing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gods damn it, Eddie, your mouth was what lost you your career _twice_. Learn when to keep you mouth shut, you idiot! (But I guess that's why I love him, lol. He's such trash.)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I told you I don't know what I'm doing? Again? *Sucks in breath* It's going a lot slower than I expected, lol. I've always been worried about my pacing, either it being too fast or too slow. And this is kinda short again? Smh, I just really like dialogue and build up . . .

After devouring five times the normal amount of takeout, Peter had never felt so full yet still having room for more. Venom's hunger was so difficult to sedate, but satisfaction was the closest word to describe how the symbiote felt right now. Doctor Dan gave Peter a small grin in understanding.

It was Venom, not Peter, who answered the call for dinner by Doctor Banner who had returned from his consultation at the low-income family clinic downtown. 

**_"Food!"_ **

"Woah!" Doctor Banner shouted, having never seen the symbiote before. "Pe— Spider-Man," he quickly corrected himself when he saw Dan, "what is  _that_?" 

 _ **"We are Venom, Banner,"**_ Venom replied, chuckling because he thought it was funny surprising the man who was the Hulk. 

"Hi, Doctor Banner," Peter added, giving a shrug. "They needed help finding a friend of theirs, and I let Venom stay in my body."

Doctor Dan jumped in at this point, standing up to offer his hand to Doctor Banner. "Hello, I'm Dan Lewis, M.D." he said with a smile, "my girlfriend, my friend, and I came to the Avengers for help looking for a friend of ours who was kidnapped about two days ago. It's nice to meet you."

"Uh, Bruce Banner, PhD," Doctor Banner replied, taking the gesture. "I'm sorry, did you just say stay in your body? Is it safe? Are you okay? Are you in pain? Why would Tony let you do this?"

Peter tried to smile but failed. "He didn't," the teen answered. 

"He's going to be okay though," Doctor Dan added, going to pick up the printed results. ("You can't imagine how much hospitals would benefit from having this technology!") "Their bond is a perfect match, there's no real threat to Venom using Spider-Man's body as a host. If anything, Spider-Man is in the best physical shape he could possibly be in."

"Those have already been his stats," Doctor Banner said taking a look himself. "There's imaging of something in his body, but it's too spread out all around to find a central system of whatever is using his body. I would call it a parasite"— _ **"Not a parasite!"**_ —"simply based on how it looks, but his vitals report of a higher metabolism than he already has and a better regulation of his hormones and cells."

 ** _"We take care of our host, yes,"_** Venom said proudly.  ** _"He dies, we die."_**

The scientist nodded in understanding. "Well, that's a good reason to keep Spider-Man alive. He's not going to die if you oh-so decided to leave his body, correct?" 

**_"Transferring is nothing, it's only deathly painful if it was due to rejection."_ **

"I see," Doctor Banner said, giving the papers back to Doctor Dan. He gave Peter a look, patting the teen's (and Venom's) head, a gesture that was becoming more common after the field trip to the Tower a few months ago. "Why don't you get down to eat, and I'll talk to Tony for you?"

Peter perked up, not expecting that. He expected Doctor Banner to be at least disappointed because the teen went against Mister Stark's approval. "Really?” He asked, looking up to the scientist's taller stature. He was feeling a lot better now, after the food. "You're not mad, Doctor Banner?" 

The man smiled gently. "If there's anyone who would know what's it like to having an other in you, it'd be me, kid," Doctor Banner replied. "The Hulk might like to destroy things, but he still cares. He's not a bad guy, even if everyone thinks he is."

"I don't," Peter replied with a smile beneath his mask. Venom formed a hand to copy Doctor Banner's gesture, liking the movement of it. 

"I know, Spider-Man," Doctor Banner said, and then he pointed to the symbiote. "But you have to tell us how to get rid of you, Venom. Think of it as a trust of good faith. It'll only be between us in this room."

Venom glared in defiance, but Peter silently asked him to just do it.  _You can trust Doctor Banner. **I** trust him. Please, Venom?_

The symbiote grumbled, but he liked the teen and knew he could be trusted.  _ **"High frequency sounds,"**_ the alien answered,  _ **"and fire."**_

"Thank you. Now you should go eat dinner. The others are waiting. You too, Doctor Lewis."

"I think I'll stay here in case Anne wakes up," Doctor Dan replied politely, taking pulling a seat to sit beside Miss Anne's bedside. She was still unconscious, but she hadn't destabilized yet or worse. "Thank you though, I'll tell all my friends I almost had dinner with the Avengers."

"I'll have something sent here for you then. Spider-Man, go change into something more casual, I'll go talk to Tony. I'm glad Bucky is on a mission right now. I wouldn't want to deal with all three of them at the same time. And keep the mask on."

"Thanks, Doctor Banner!" Peter shouted, jumping to hug the scientist.

Feeling better because Peter felt better, Venom joined in, wrapping his formed body around the both of them in a bone shattering embrace had they just been simple human beings.  ** _"We are happy,"_** he said.

Doctor Banner laughed, waiting patiently for Venom to release them both a few seconds later. "See you in a bit," he said, heading out. 

* * *

_Lonely. It is lonely here. People talking without speaking. People hearing without listening. People writing songs that voices never share._

Eddie's eyes shot open with a cold shiver running down his spine. He felt disoriented, his breaths quick and shallow as he looked around for Torment, but she was not there, not a puddle of goo or her rotting host. He wasn't even strapped to the chair anymore, but on a cheap cot right next to a dirty toilet and sink. He was stuck in a rusty metal cage, large enough to for extra leg space, and there was only one light barely bright overhead. 

God, what was that? That was Torment's voice, wasn't it? Why was she quoting Simon & Garfunkel? Where was he?

He felt filthy and tired, groaning at the pain in his head, and he laid back onto the cot. The bonding proceeds night might have failed, but it seemed that they were getting to each other somewhat, Eddie recalling some of Torment's memories, memories of the hosts she had had. There were a number of them, four at the moment, but none of them were right for her. She'd find no perfect match on Earth, she knew, and she wanted to go  _home_. 

That made Eddie laugh to himself just a little because he remembered what Venom said about Klyntar, about how millions upon millions of symbiotes strived to be the strongest, the best, the most perfect, while all collectively being a part of the same hive mind. The strong devoured the weak who didn't know their places, that was how Venom survived all this time, staying small and always the follower, never daring to challenge or disagree. Venom was pathetic. 

And yet knowing that, Eddie didn't want any other symbiote. There was just something about the one that decided he could do better by staying on Earth, going as far as to kill the Riot leader who had shit you'd never seen before. Venom decided he could better by staying on Earth because of Eddie. 

So it was odd to Eddie that Torment would want to back to Klyntar, going as far as to refer to it as  _home_. Brothers and sisters fought each other, devouring each other, and everyone was a cool heat, never warm or comforting. At least that was how Venom saw it, comparing the entirety of Klyntar to Eddie. Right now, Eddie was Venom's whole world, and the man was too much of a pussy to ever let that go, sentimental really and in love. 

There was a tap against the metal cage, and Eddie turned his over to see who was there. 

 ** _"Humans are exhausting, Eddie Brock,"_** Torment said, now wearing the body of a Latina woman, her brown eyes dull. Her expression was blank, but she clutched at the metal wire. Her voice was tired, forlorn really.  ** _"You all deserve to perish."_**

Eddie chuckled, shaking his head, and he watched Torment come around to the lock of his cage. It was time to try again. "We deserve a lot of things," he told her, "but not that, not by you. The only ones who can destroy us is ourselves. Give us another century or less, and you won't have such a hard time invading."

Torment looked at him with the face of someone was now missing so much in life, not a bit sympathetic, and Eddie didn't stay another word as she dragged him off the cot and back onto the metal chair. He passed out several attempts in, hearing the words of that one Simon & Garfunkel songs in her mind very clearly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like that one Simon & Garfunkel song, this is the second time I've referenced it in my works.
> 
> Song credit: _The Sound of Silence_ by Simon and Garfunkel


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is easily becoming one of my most popular fics, coming only second to this work's Peter Parker companion fic. _Nice_. ^^

Dinner at the Tower tonight was awkward, well at least for Peter at least. Venom didn't really care, gobbling up everything he could reach as the Avengers present watched with apprehensive curiousity. Stark must have told them what happened before disappearing to throw a tantrum. The man was childish, Venom thought, and somehow, they lost their appetite.

"What's wrong, buddy?" Peter said, putting down his seventh egg roll. He was dressed in a lazy white shirt and gray sweats, his mask covering the top of his face. "This doesn't feel alright."

"What's wrong?" Miss Nat asked, noticing right away the sudden change in mood. "Is it hurting you?" she added, pursing her lips as she glared over at Venom's formed head. The symbiote slinked away without an answer. 

Peter shrugged. "I think I want to go home now," he replied. 

"Hey, what's wrong, buddy?" Clint joined in, patting the teen on the back. 

"I think it's the alien, Clint," Cap said, getting up from his seat at the table. It was only the four of them tonight, Mister Star and Doctor Banner off in one of the labs, Bucky on a mission for S.H.I.E.L.D., and everyone else just not around the Tower. The blond walked over to Peter. "I'll take you home."

"It's okay, Cap, I can just swing myself back," Peter said though he really liked that the man offered. He didn't want to be a bother though. "It only takes fifteen minutes."

Cap smiled. "It'll be no problem. We'll take my bike and get some fresh air."

A tiny nudge from his chest urged him to agree, Venom wanting Peter to feel better since it was the symbiote's fault for the sudden mood change. The teen nodded. "Okay, sure," he replied. "Thanks, Cap."

"Sleep well, little spider," Miss Nat said gently, cleaning up the table already as Clint took the last bit of fried rice. Then she glared, speaking to Venom. "You make sure to take care of him." And she left it at that.

"Night, kid," Clint said, giving Peter a one-arm hug. "Watch your back."

"Night, Miss Nat, night, Clint," the teen replied, and Cap led him through the elevator to the garage underneath the Tower. He got his backpack and shoved his mask into it. 

The ride back to the apartment was a quiet one, Cap speaking only to make sure Peter was secure behind him and wearing the extra helmet. It was really relaxing, and Peter liked the constant rush of the night air against his body. 

When they arrived, Peter got off first, and then so did Cap, taking both helmets in his hands. 

"Peter," the man said, "whatever Tony said to you wasn't meant to hurt you. He worries about you."

Peter nodded, though there was little heart in the gesture. "I know," he replied, looking down at his feet. 

"And you know that I agree with Tony? That the rest of us don't approve?"

Peter's head shot up, ready to defend himself, wanting to reason and tell Cap why he sho—

"But it doesn't mean you made a bad choice," Cap cut in, putting down the helmets on his bike and placing a hand on the teen's shoulder. "I'm know you wanted to help, this is the first time anyone asked for you, and like anyone who has something to prove, you proved that you wanted to do this. You showed initiation and that you believe in your skills. Even though you didn't come to any of us to talk it, I support you. So be ready to take on any consequences that might come from this. Just remember, I'll be there catch if you fall."

The teen blinked a few times in succession, trying not to cry because this was such a relief. He thought he had to do this alone, but he really didn't. 

 ** _He is a good guy,_** Venom whispered gently.  ** _He cares for you like I care for Eddie. He loves you, Peter. Humanity has a lot to teach us, and we look forward to it._**

"Thanks, Cap," Peter finally said, rubbing his eyes with the sleeves of his jacket. He mustered up a smile. "I'll do my best."

Cap chuckled, moving his hand from Peter's shoulder to against his cheek. "I know you will, Peter. Make us proud."

Peter waited outside until he no longer saw or heard Cap's bike, and he headed upstairs to the apartment he lived with Aunt May. He called out to her, but the lights weren't on. She wasn't home yet. 

So he say on the couch, looking out the small window by the fire escape as he waited for her. Cap's word were warm, but maybe it was because of Venom that Peter still felt empty, hallowed. Though they were perfect in form together, they weren't completely aligned in wants and desires. Peter curled up on him, Venom rising a little from his back to blanket over the teen's shoulders in attempt to comfort. 

They stayed silent, voiceless and thoughtless. 

Then, some time later, the door opened, and she called out from the entrance, "Peter? Are you home? I brought taco—"

Aunt May stopped, catching the look solemn feeling on Peter's face, and immediately, she put everything down at her feet, closing the door, and went to the couch with open arms. The teen met her halfway, wrapping his arms around her waist with his face press against her breast. He felt like a little kid.

**_Aren't you, Peter?_ **

"Oh, sweetie, what's wrong?" Aunt May asked gently, patting her  nephew's— _her son's_ —hair. 

Peter shrugged, a tear falling done his cheek.

Aunt May kissed his forehead. "Do you want to talk about how you're feeling right now? Maybe that will help."

"I missed you," he replied in a hushed voice, "a lot. I thought you weren't here anymore, and I got scared." 

She hushed him gently. "We all get lonely sometimes, and miss people we love. It just really shows how important they are to you, and Peter, you are my world. I can't imagine life without you. You make me so proud. I love you, and I love you, and I love you. I'd never leave you willingly. You're  _my_ hero."

Peter laughed as Aunt May started pressing butterfly kisses on his face, and his hollowness was gone. What was left was Venom's, a jarring distinction in the back of the teen's mind. They were not aligned in wants and desires, but they yearned for the love of the ones who were the foundations of their worlds, to protect them, to hold them, to stay with them. 

"I love you too, Aunt May," Peter responded, no tears welling in his eyes. He held his aunt— _his mother_ —a little tighter, smiling but still wanting to remain close. "Can we stay like this a little longer?" 

"Of course, Peter. As long as you want." And she started to hum, an old Italian song from her childhood that she taught him when he was just a kid. 

**_You still are, but we will grow. Because we are loved._ **

Peter hummed, feeling the symbiote rise from his back again and over his shoulders, this time blanketing both him and Aunt May. Venom felt what he felt, and Peter felt grateful. 

Suddenly, a horrifying thought struck the boy, and he shot his head up for the second time tonight, eyes wide as he witnessed Aunt May witnessing the alien for the first time, Venom's formed eyes narrowing in appreciation towards her. She probably couldn't tell by the shock on her face. 

Peter sucked in a breath, dreading her next words.

"What the f—"

* * *

The first host was a low-level engineer working at Hammer Industries. She moved to New York for the job and knew very little people. She had a fascinating for creating robots and cared for them like they were people. People were difficult to get along with, nobody knew her here. She wasn't reported missing until the Wednesday after her weekend off by her superior. 

The second host was one homeless man out of the hundred thousand other homeless men in New York, a former veteran who ended up the streets because what he saw and did was too much. He saw and did things that made it hard to come back to society, and society didn't lift a finger to help. He spent the last few days of his life walking again for the first time since he was honorably discharged. 

The third host was a community college professor who taught Post-Modern American literature. Very wordy, and very lonely. He was not completely a nihilist, an existentialist at most, and he was as solitary as a comet missing every gravitational pull in its path. Very cold, very unfeeling, indifferent to the world as the world was indifferent to him. Absurdity without the comedy, a drama-less tragedy that was life. He thought too much with his mind but but could never express it with his voice.

The fourth host, the current one, was a middle-aged woman, the oldest of five. Her mother died when she was seven, and her father gave her all the responsiblities of raising four younger children on her own. They would not starved because he worked, but she lost most of her childhood and her independence. By the time, the youngest one left the household, she had no one but them and her father. She gave them all her time and attention, and they all left, grateful and loving. She didn't have a life outside of them, so she stayed home, taking care of the man who was supposed to have taken care of her. 

" _Fuck_ ," Eddie said, groaning at the pain of living the lives of Torment's hosts in flashes and memories. He wanted to go home,  _she_ wanted to go home. He was brought back to the iron cage, throwing weakly onto the cot, and Torment, in that woman's body, sat right outside, leaning against the door like a ragdoll. They were both too exhausted to keep trying, to bind, to resist. "Where are you getting these people?"

 ** _"There were a few more,"_ ** Torment replied, not moving, **_"but it was only these hosts who didn't reject me immediately. I hate your species."_**

"I'm not a fan sometimes either, but they were still good people. They didn't do anything wrong, they didn't deserve to die for you."

**_"And if they didn't die for me, what would've they died for? They didn't see the future by years, only days, hours, minutes. Their lives were better wasted dying for me than spent living for themselves. I gave them all a purpose."_ **

"And it fucking hurts. You could've helped them."

 **_"Why would I want to do that? My people destroy planets like this. I am not here to_ ** **help _, but I will return to destroy. Humans by no means are_ good _, just sad, pitiful creatures whose salvation is their own end. It hurts to be here. I felt their pain, and they felt mine. The air is poison, and mankind's mind is prison. Bond with me, Eddie Brock. We just want to go home, don't we?"_**

The man passed out before he could reply.

* * *

"Tony, why do you always have to be such a jackass?" 

Bruce's blunt words struck Tony harshly, but the billionaire needed to hear it. Tony knew it, but he didn't have enough dignity to give a reasonable answer. 

His science bro (one of the best kind of bros) sighed, rolling his eyes. "He's a teenager," Bruce continued. "You should expect him to do things you tell him not to." 

"Not in my Tower," Tony bit back childishly. "If Peter wants to do something stupid, he has all of New York to do it in. He can find an alleyway I'm not in and dance naked for all I care, but under my roof, he can't."

"And when he does, you go and tell him exactly just how disappointed you are in him, never minding that he probably did it because he looks up to you."

Tony grimaced at that because he knew that was the truth and he really wished it wasn't. 

Hey, sure, he was a super rich, super smart, super charismatic guy, but he'd made a lot of mistakes. He was still trying to fix them to this day, and so far, he didn't deserve to have a kid like Peter looking up to him like he was a good guy. It wouldn't be fair because there was also Steve and Bucky and Natasha and Clint and Bruce and FRIDAY and Pepper and Rhodey and Agent Agent and— You get the point yet? 

"Maybe it's time he stops so he'll actually listen to me next time," Tony said, pulling up a hologram of his latest project on Clint's bow. 

"You're self-deprecating again," Bruce finished with another sigh. "Look, Tony, you owe Peter an apology. I know you don't like what he did, but the tests show there's nothing wrong. He's perfectly healthy, maybe even a little better. We have to help him." 

The scientist handed the inventor his personal tablet which had all the tests done on Peter, and Tony took it and took the time to read over every page, biting his bottom lip and hating that there was no real reason for him to be angry. It was just him trying to keep the kid from getting hurt. May trusted him, but most importantly, Peter trusted him. His anger was irrational, he knew, but he reserved the right to have felt it. 

Perhaps, however, it was rational that Peter didn't take Tony's anger easily, and he was wrong to have felt it. 

"FRIDAY, pull up any reports of odd phenomenons in New York in the last few months," Tony said loudly, "anything that might relate to aliens or from outer space. 

Quickly, several dozen news articles popped up in the room. " _Here you go, boss. There are fifty-two reported incidents, ten of them correlating with a sudden spike in crime."_

"Any of them seen coming from the sky?" Bruce added. 

_"Seven."_

"Meteorite crashing," Tony read out of the keyword, looking at what articles were left over from the cross referencing. "Which ones are near Hammer Industries locations? Even the old ones." He couldn't forget that detail. 

_"Two."_

"And which has an employee missing or found dead?”

_"One."_

Gillian Argent, PhD in robotic engineering, thirty-three years old, no spouse or partner, _reported_ _missing twenty-one days ago._

"This counts as helping, yes?" Tony asked with a smug smile, and Bruce could only shake his head in bro-fashioned exasperation. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to read the little extra fluff, I'm putting it down in the comment section. Check it out!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm bad at this thing called plot. ≈~≈

After spending half an hour of frantic explaining and Aunt May trying to smack Venom right out of Peter, she took this whole symbiote thing well, after being assured that  ** _"No, we would never harm Peter. He dies, we die. We will protect him, we swear."_**

"What the hell was Tony thinking?" she said, flustered as she went back to the small kitchen. Cooking helped her destress. 

"He said not to," Peter said with guilt, looking down on the floor. He didn't expect Mister Stark to get the brunt of the blame for what he did. "It was my choice, Venom came to me looking for help. He's looking for his friend, no, wait, his Eddie."

 _ **"**_ **My** _ **Eddie,"**_ Venom repeated softly, coming out of Peter's right shoulder. His mood fell pretty quickly, slumping a bit now.  _ **"We miss Eddie."**_

"We'll find him," Peter comforted, patting Venom's form head. "For now, we'll do what Mister Stark wanted to do: talk it out and make a plan."

Aunt May sighed, shaking her head. "So tell me what the deal with, uh, Venom, is it?" she asked, looking a little weary but no longer vocally disapproving. 

 ** _"We are friends,"_** Venom said pleasantly, nodding.  ** _"Peter is a good host, he is strong. And loved. His brain makes a lot of tasty chemicals. We are strong together."_**

"You're eating my brain, buddy?" Peter asked, blinking. 

**_"No, no eating Peter. But your liver is looking nice. But no eating Peter. We only eat bad people, but we_ are _hungry. Food, Peter. Fooooood."_ **

Aunt May laughed because an alien whining for food like a dog was a pretty funny image. She headed back to the door where she left all the bags. "We'll have dinner then," she said, taking them into the kitchen. 

 ** _"Thank you, Aunt May,"_** Venom said politely.

Peter's affections for the woman was simply unmeasurable, and the symbiote loved her because Peter did. She was important to the boy. 

Aunt May raised an eyebrow, but she didn't say anything, which made Peter laugh a bit because he seemed to know what that meant. 

"I'll help," the teen said, getting up too. 

Less than half an hour later, they all went out to a Thai restaurant because Venom was still hungry. (They'll put it on Barton's tab.) 

* * *

"Seriously, couldn't you  just leave me to die, Torment?" Eddie asked after the nth time the symbiote attempted to bound to him with no success. It still hurt like a bitch, but it was becoming more like a mosquito bite, painful but just downright annoying. 

He was pretty sure his heart was about to stop out of exhaustion, his rejection to her burning his organs inside out. That, and it was getting harder to say no to her.

She was feeling so lonely, lost in the middle of nowhere in the universe with no hopes of getting home to her kind, to surviving without suffering. It hurt to breath, Eddie learned, with a body that didn't suit you. She felt herself degrading in every moment, and the saddest thing of all was that Torment was losing hope. 

Eddie never thought he'd sympathize with someone who hurt other people, killed them for their only uses, but for many moments, she was him and he was her. He simply understood, and most of all, he had enough, he couldn't take it anymore because it was like reliving his childhood again. 

His father never locked him out of the house, but his father never smiled at him either. Eddie's childhood was one of negligent, loneliness in a house that was devoid of love because his mother died in childbirth. The only person his father could ever love was her, and Eddie, his own flesh and blood, killed her. 

His father had another family now and another son, a son he took out to go fishing and play catch, a son that he actually loved. But not Eddie, never Eddie. 

He didn't simply understand, he'd lived it. 

Eddie blinked away his tears, feeling worn out rather than exhausted. It was a kind of feeling that sunk into the marrow of your bones and locked up your joints. He wanted to go home. 

 _ **"Then we'll both die,"**_ Torment replied, the body sagging against the wall.  _ **"I'd rather keep trying until I'm dead before I died accepting defeat."**_

"It's not going to work," Eddie said, his head falling backwards on the chair. "I'll never bond with you. I already have a partner, and I only need him."

 _**"What's the difference between that loser and me? I'm far better than he'll ever be. He's a coward and a traitor, and weak. Pathetic.**_ **Human _."_**

Eddie chuckled, and the calm, peaceful voice of Nat King Cole began to sing softly in his mind, a song he heard in a movie about a writer who fell in love with a can-can dancer. 

". . . the greatest thing you'll ever learn," Eddie finished out loudly, "is just to love, and be loved. In return."

He passed out after that, and he was not sure he'd wake up again. 

* * *

Peter shot out of bed in the middle of the night, a sense of agony washing over him, and he wanted to cry. He pressed his hand over his chest, trying to search for Venom. 

"Venom?" he called out softly, not knowing what to think about the dream he just had. "Venom, what happened? Are you okay?" he asked, feeling the symbiote's emotions but not quite understanding them. He could not put them into words. 

A figure raised from the back on his raised hand, Venom's formed head small and lowered.  _ **"No,"**_ he replied truthfully.  _ **"We miss Eddie.**_ **I _miss Eddie."_**

"Hey, we're going to find him, okay?" Peter said assuringly as he sat up in a fetal position, clasping his hands on his shoulders. He paused for a moment. "Do you want to talk about that dream?"

Venom hesitated, but easily, he nodded. 

 ** _"We never realized just how empty our thoughts can be without someone else, someone who's you and them at the same time,"_** Venom started, weeping openly.  ** _"Perfect compatibility, to be yourself and complete. It was frightening how we were right there with him, beside him and touching him, but he couldn't hear us. He loved us, but he could never fully understand how much we loved him back because we couldn't speak to him. We knew his loneliness, but we couldn't comfort him, tell him that he wasn't alone. We were right there with him, worlds apart, and it felt like dying."_**

Peter was crying too, feeling and understand how Venom felt, and that was a double whammy. "It'll be okay," the teenager whispered, his voice tightening to hold back a sob. "We'll save him, I promise. I'll do everything I can to make sure we do." 

Venom nuzzled Peter by the cheek, comforting both himself and the teen.  ** _"We believe, Peter,"_** he said.  ** _"Thank you."_**

"Anytime." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For context, the last scene was inspired by [@carymono's artwork](https://twitter.com/carymono/status/1072189711756623873?s=19). It's absolutely lovely, and I cannot stress how much I love this artist. Please check them out and don't repost their works without their acknowledgement and permission. 
> 
> Guys, writing this makes me sad. I'm empathizing too much, but here's hoping that I'm writing dynamic characters. Gods, the last four chapters have been nothing but a complication of characters comforting each other with little to no action. This is what I meant when I said I suck at plot. >_<
> 
> Song credit: _Nature Boy_ by Nat King Cole.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should stop writing long works because I take too long to finish them, lmao. (Not saying I'm just going to drop this, I just take too long for my own liking.)

_I want to swim away but don't know how. Sometimes it feels just like I'm falling in the ocean . . . I'm treading for my life, believe me. (How can I keep up this breathing?) . . ._   _I want to swim away but don't know how. Sometimes it feels just like I'm falling in the ocean._

". . . Into the ocean, end it all; into the ocean, end it all; into the ocean, end it all; into the ocean, end it. All."

Eddie exhaled as he closed his eyes; she was dying, and he could feel every minute pass by with agony. She was a powerful being, breed to conquer and destroy, but who would've ever thought that her greatest obstacle would be something as trivial as love?  

 ** _"I'm dying,"_** Torment says, her host body slunk against the wall. She didn't even lift up her head. 

"I know," Eddie replied. "Let me go, Torment.  _Please_."

**_"Never, Brock, not until Venom comes for me. He must be angry since I took you from him. He'll give me the death well deserving of a warrior like me."_ **

The reporter huffed weakly. "You don't have to die, you know. We can help you."

_**"I don't want your help."** _

Eddie stopped for a moment, looking back on everything he felt when she tried to get to him, and he couldn't help but shudder, knowing what she felt because he'd gone through something like this years ago. Sometimes, it was something that returned, like an incurable disease. 

"It'll get better," he tried, though he wasn't sure how far his words would reach her. He felt very sorry, but he understood. He wanted to cry.

 _ **"There's no future here for me,"**_ Torment replied, struggling to use her host's legs to lift her off the floor. She limped towards the exit.  _ **"I wasn't meant to be here, but it seems that things do not always go according to plan. There's nothing else for me to do than to watch you die too, Brock. You're why I am still here."**_

The door closed loudly behind her, and Eddie is left alone again.

He didn't know how long he sat waiting, long enough that he almost missed her company. It was probably hours, seeing that the sun ran its light across his back and basked the inside of the warehouse with its many shade until it settled onto an orange-red. 

When Torment returned, she had changed host, and this time, she had taken the body of a girl, only about thirteen years old. There were tear streaks down her dark cheeks, and she was barefooted,  _lost_. 

"You fucking bastard," Eddie said, hating Torment with all his heart. That was just a girl, there was no way someone wasn't looking for her, crying for her. 

 _ **"She was homeless,"**_ Torment said, releasing Eddie from his restrains.

She didn't have to fight him as she returned him to the iron cage because the man was too weak to do anything but let himself by dragged. He was dropped onto the dirty cot, a burger on the floor nearby.

Torment made sure he was locked up, even though by now, Eddie didn't even have the strength to sit up. Then she went back to her place by the wall earlier, slinking down to the ground. She put up the girl's knees and rested her head on them, wrapping her arms around her legs. 

 ** _"Her parents were drug_   _addicts,"_  **she said, as if justifing her choice, **_"and she ran_** _ **away from foster care. She had friends, but no one will report her missing."**_

"She had the rest of her life ahead of her," the man bit back. " _You_ took that from her."

Torment didn't answer, remaining still. Neither spoke again as moon overtook the sky for the night.

When the next morning came, Eddie woke up to a deep ache in his body, a call, a cry for the other half of him. It was something that he saw was coming without seeing, something he heard without hearing, something spoken without speaking.

It seemed that Torment felt the same way, Eddie glancing over to see that the girl's body was already standing. The symbiote put on a blank face, body tight with anticipation of what was to come, of what was to end. 

"You could run," Eddie offered, relief settling in his bones. He should be worrying that Torment would want to kill him first, but he wasn't. He knew it wasn't what she wanted. "We won't think any less of you, Torment."

 _ **"No,"**_ she replied, heading to the door again. She paused for a moment.  _ **"Humans are very weak, but their emotions are so strong. They waste so much time and energy, and yet, the simplest thing makes them content. I am not like you, Brock, and I am alone in a world full of you. This has become my whole world."**_

That was the last time Eddie ever saw Torment. 

* * *

The location was an old Hammer warehouse with abandoned wares and tech from a few years ago. It was wasteful in terms of space and property, but when you had so much in the palm of your hand, what's a building or two?

"Peter, you're with me and Tony," Cap said when Peter arrived at the Tower that morning. "Clint, Natasha, and Bruce will be on standby."

"I'm going to fight with you and Mister Stark?" the teen asked, heart pumping. He felt Venom squeeze it lightly. "You're letting me go first?" 

Cap nodded, expression serious as he looked at Peter. "Tony and I decided to give you this chance. You went far enough to disobey our orders, so we're giving you the chance to prove yourself. Let's go, son. The rest are waiting for us in the QuinJet."

 _ **We'll** **show them what we can do, Peter,**_ Venom added,  _ **that we are strong. For Eddie.**_

Peter placed a hand on his chest, nodding, and they headed out.

The location in question was a long shot away from a secret lair, it was just broken down and solitary, like a bird's cage left on the side of the road. Peter and Venom landed first, jumping out of the QuinJet with Cap and Mister Stark following after. 

"Tell us if you feel anything," Cap said.

Peter nodded. He was actually a little nervous because Mister Stark hadn't said a word to him yet. He promised himself that he would try later. 

 _ **Good kid. Keep trying,**_ the symbiote praised affectionately, but when Peter's feet touched the ground, he stopped, enveloping the teen's figure with his fluid flesh like a second skin.  _ **They're coming out, from there.**_

Peter turned to the side of the building, confused when he saw a familiar figure, her dark curly hair hanging over her face. He saw her just last week while passing by. The first time they met, she was eating a half rotten sandwich so he, as Spider-Man, bought six hot dogs to split between the two of them and they sat at the park and talked. Peter saw her plenty of times afterwards, he recognized the worn out blue hoodie and dark green pants, but he didn't expect to see her here.

"Alicia,” Peter called out, stepping forward to his friend, but his feet were glued to the spot, Venom hissing at her. " _No._ "

 _"Why do they always do this?"_ Mister Stark asked, defeated even in the automated voice of his Iron Man suit. He held up an charging hand at Alicia.  _"Watch your back, kid."_

"Wait, Mister Stark!" Peter shouted, jumping in the way. "Don't shoot, she's my friend!" 

**_Not anymore. We're sorry, Peter._ **

_"Peter, I said wa—"_

From the corner of his eye, Peter saw a large, purple object swing at him, stretched long enough to pack a punch to even Mister Stark's armor. The teen rolled on impacted but got back on his feet, turning around to Alicia to shoot his web at her. 

It caught her, wrapped around her malnourished body, and Alicia fell to the ground. Peter sighed in relief, trying to think of ways to help here, but his moment was cut short when a sharp blade like limb pierced through his web like butter, his friend rising from the dirt and lifted a feet into the air. 

She finally lifted her head, and Peter was crushed. 

 _ **"You came, Venom,"**_ not Alicia said with a painful grin. Her eyes were bleeding, and the veins we're threatening to burst, her dark skin deadly pale.  ** _"I've been expecting you."_**

Venom took over Peter's mask, revealing his teeth in a snarl.  ** _"Give Eddie back,"_** he demanded, the talons of Peter's hands sharpening.  ** _"We'll kill you."_**

**_"I am Torment, I am one of your kind."_ **

**_"We don't care. Give Eddie back."_ **

Not Alicia cackled.  ** _"You're pathetic. Have you forgotten what our mission is? Have you gotten so fat and lazy to remember how utterly pointless this world is? Why don't you stand with me, brother, and together, we can go home, leave this ball of dirt and all its miserable creatures behind."_**

 _But home is right here_. 

 ** _"Home is where the heart is, and our heart is one with Eddie,"_** Venom said, and he looked over Peter's shoulder.  ** _"Leave the boy to me. We will win this one."_**

Mister Stark raised a hand.  _"That wasn't what we talked about,"_ he said,  _"I'm running out of patience with you, Venom. You think you can come to my city and decide to go by your own rules."_

"I appreciate you taking care of Spider-Man," Cap said, "but you don't have the right to call the shots." 

Venom paused, and then he peeled back from Peter's mask. 

"Please," Peter said, tears hidden but not unheard. "She's my friend." 

Both men hesitated, a look of pain crossing Cap's half-hidden face. 

 _"Let him, Tony,"_ Doctor Banner's voice cut in through the comms. 

Mister Stark didn't reply immediately, but then he lowered himself to the ground, his mask opened to reveal his face. His expression seemed blank and he said, "Go."

Peter turned as Venom covered his mask, the teenage launching his web forward, and like a slingshot, he flew right at a figure so familiar yet so strange at the same time. It looked like her, but it wasn't, not anymore. It was just Torment now. And Peter knew it because Venom knew it, sensed it, _lived_ it before, before he met Eddie.

 _ **"Hurry up!"**_ Torment screamed, shooting out a sharp tendril at Peter and Venom, but easily, almost too easily, the two dodged it. 

Venom gave Peter an extra boost, kicking his feet against the ground, and they were charging at Torment even faster, like a bullet, like a rocket. Together, they reached out, merging into one giant mass of symbiote fighting and struggling within itself, churning and churning with a provoking wrath until finally, Venom opened his jaws to bite into Torment's flesh. Nothing really hurt until then.

All too soon, like a movie cut short right to the credits, Torment stopped, resisting only a little as she  _let_ herself be devoured, Venom's anger and fear overtaking him as he kept biting at her, eating her mouthful by mouthful. She tasted foul, like lead, and Peter could feel every thought and every memory chew like glass between his teeth, bleeding out his tongue. 

_**I was born a warrior, I will not fall to anything but my own. I am Torment, you will not forget me.** _

_Thank you, Peter._

**_Thank you.  
_ **

And Torment was gone, leaving behind Alicia's body like an empty husk. Peter and Venom caught her before she could fall, and it was just them, feeling horrible with a weight of a whole world on his shoulders. Her pretty brown eyes stared dully at the sky.

"She was my friend," Peter said, sobbing on the ground as he hugged her. 

 ** _"We are so sorry, Peter,"_** Venom replied mournfully,  _ **"she was our friend."**_

"Spider-Man, are you okay?" Cap's voice said from above them, voice soft and gentle. 

Venom peeled himself back from Peter's mask, and the boy lifted it up partly because it was getting so hard to breathe.

"No," Peter answered truthfully. 

"I know, kid," Mister Stark said, standing there too. In the distance, the QuinJet was making its silent landing. "We'll do everything to make sure she's sent off properly."

Peter sniffed, lifting Alicia's body up. "Could you take her?" he asked too softly. "There's still something I have to do."

"Of course," Cap replied, gently taking Alicia from him.

He held her in his arms as if she was asleep with one arm around her shoulders and the other under her knees. Her arms were placed against her chest and her head against his shoulder. He'd removed his mask too, letting it hang on his back, and for a moment, he didn't look like a hero but a father holding his daughter. 

That was something she once wished for, for someone to love her like a good parent would. 

"We'll be out soon," Peter said, looking at the abandoned warehouse, and he walked off without missing a beat. He didn't look back when Miss Nat and Clint's voices reached his ears, opening the door and closing it behind him. 

It was dark inside, only the afternoon light streaming in, but they felt it, the presence of someone so important. Peter felt his entire body pulsate, his grief nearly overcome with crying laughter and terrified excitement. 

He couldn't fault the symbiote for feeling this way. In a way, he was relieved too, it was hard to have another voice in your head. It was hard to feel emotions that weren't originally yours but then was because you and them became us,  _ours_. 

Venom manifested his head when they nearly reached a degraded iron fence, and he slipped through the open gap, shouting like a child,  ** _"Eddie!"_**

Eddie Brock was on an old cot, hair greasy and mangled and his clothes dirty and smelly. The reporter didn't stir, his breathing slow and shallow. His skin was covered with sweat, and under his eyes were dark bags of exhaustion. When Venom pressed his formed face against Eddie's neck, Peter could feel the man's heart beating poorly, the rhythm of a dying man.

But they were going to save him, Peter promised. Venom had his partner back, and all the symbiote needed to do was to leave—

There was no pull, and Peter and Venom both felt it, the symbiote's eyes wider than half his face. Betrayal and panic settled in the symbiote in an instant, Venom baring his sharp teeth like a beast as he violently screamed,  ** _"WE'VE ACHIEVED COMPLETE SYMBIOSIS. WE CAN'T SEPARATE. FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! WE CAN'T— WE CAN'T— WE CAN'T— WE WANT EDDIE! WE'RE SORRY! WE'RE SORRY! KILL ME!"_**

Fat, ugly drops of tears and drool came dripping from the symbiote's eyes and mouth, his head flickering like a computer glitch over Eddie's unconscious body. They were merely inches apart, but it felt like worlds away. Peter felt the distance pulling at his molecules. 

"No, Venom," he said, knees buckling at how intense the emotions were running though his body. "Give me a second to think, there's got be something. I said I would help you, I'm going to help you."

Venom continued to cry, but he said nothing more, looking down at Eddie. 

Peter looked around, trying to think. It was an old warehouse, nothing was up-to-date and probably not working, but there was some engine batteries up on the shelves. Unused scraps of metals and parts had fallen to the floor, some still where they were last left. Layers and layers of dust sat on everything, a makeshift chair with straps within eyesight. And there were lots of lights and speakers up above. A breeze came through one of the broken window pane, and with it came a ringing from far away, a sound that Peter strained to listen with his enhanced hearing. The sound of a bell ringing. 

_"But you have to tell us how to get rid of you, Venom."_

_"High frequency sounds, and fire."_

Peter immediately grabbed a battery and went to the closest speaker, climbing up to it so he get at the wiring. Quickly, he reattached the speaker to the energy source, and Venom glanced up. 

Not a word was spoken between the two of them, connected together still, and Peter turned on the battery. 

* * *

A loud, horrible screech overtook the warehouse like a rocket crash, burning, gut-wrenching,  _devastating_. The vibration ran through the symbiote like a shot of poison, enveloping his entire being with earthquakes and electric shock. Venom screeched in return, feeling himself being crushed into a singularity as the high pitched noise continued to scream. 

It was so painful, he forgot where he was, what was his name, why he was there. Everything but pain became numb, and he wanted to beg for it to stop, to be merciful. But no one could hear him, not anymore. He was no longer together with Peter, Venom was alone again, hovering over the one he loved, the only one he wanted to be with forever. 

No one else, no one else but  ** _Eddie._**

Finally, the speaker stopped, and there was the sound of Peter falling, Venom's strength and weaknesses once his too. The symbiote felt the tug of concern to help the boy, to make him better by healing his bones and numbing his pain receptors, but the pull of becoming one with Eddie again was so much stronger. 

Hurt and only a mass as big as a fist, Venom slunk down to Eddie's chest and sank into him, and slowly, the symbiote reached each and every inch of the man's body, mixing with his bloodstream and holding Eddie inside and out. 

 _ **Home**_. 

_Home._  


Weak and exhausted, Venom rested in Eddie's heart. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, sorry if this chapter feels kinda cut off, or rushed; I'm not good at fight/action scenes, and I'm not good at technical things. It's kinda of my first time writing a story like this, so sorry if I disappoint, lol. I'm pretty bad to be honest. 
> 
> Another chapter of this, and then there's a special extra including Flash Thompson, which I really look forward to writing. ^^
> 
> Song credit: _Into the Ocean_ by Blue October

**Author's Note:**

> If you like my work(s), please support me and check out [my Twitter](https://twitter.com/kappachyun?s=09) and [my Carrd](https://kappachyun.carrd.co)!


End file.
